Mykella Palmer

The Cider House Rules takes a complicated subject (abortion) where there is no black and white answer and discusses it through an entertaining story with intelligence, grace, humor, and humility.

It’s fast-moving. It’s easy to read. And it’s packed with so much…. feeling. That’s the only way I can describe it. You just empathize so much with little Ender Wiggins, the child that is the story’s main character.

One of the things I love about this book is the voice – it’s so distinct that you really feel as if you’re talking with the heroine, that she’s a real, live, breathing person.

Long Way Down is Jason Reynold’s love letter to black boys growing up in violent, disenfranchised environments – which, unfortunately, in this country, is way too many black boys.

It’s a quirky little fairy tale that’s fun, magical and sweet. It starts off in dark, sunless place, but by the end of it, sunlight comes back to the world in a big, bright, beautiful way that will leave you smiling.

Movie tech needed time to grow to more adequately capture the awe and wonder and terror of the book. Many of the iconic elements of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th movies were already in play in this first book.

Stephanie Land, the author of Maid, never expected to be poor. So it shocked her that it only took an unplanned pregnancy and a bad breakup to plunge her into poverty so deep, that she couldn't see a way out for years.

Although the premise for The Round House, a family recovering from a brutal attack, is heavy, the reading experience is vibrant and rewarding.

The real story is about people, not zombies. The twist is that one of those people is an entirely new kind of person — something humanity has never seen before.

I love how even though the main character of The Good Earth, Wang Lung, isn’t the most likable guy, I still wanted him to win.